


Life Moves in Unexpected Ways

by Originalobjecttheorist



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aromantic Tony Stark, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Multi, Mutual Pining, No Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Non-Graphic Violence, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 22:57:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19050193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Originalobjecttheorist/pseuds/Originalobjecttheorist
Summary: Tony Stark is tired of the hand he's been dealt and decides to write his own happy ending. Never expecting the what one could achieve when they make their own path.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the first Iron Man Big Bang  
> I wrote it before Endgame and my opinions have changed since I started writing this fic

The Team Cap is back on American soil. Tony isn't very happy about it, neither is the public, but they are needed, and he knows something bad is going to happen; he feels it in his bones. Fury felt it too and that's why he came back to life, again and got them back. But Fury, Rhodey, Pepper, and the legal department of Stark Industries made sure that Steve Rogers and his band of merry miscreants would never come within 100 feet of Tony again. It was just short of a restraining order because they had to fight together sometimes, and a restraining order would just create complications about that.  
The most overwhelming thing was the public and media support, it probably had something to do with Laura Barton, and a disgruntled Hank Pym who was dragged by a very determined Hope Van Dyne on a visit to Tony in the hospital to apologize for Clint and Scott Lang's actions. The press conference was held after, led by Pepper, Maria Hill, and Sharon Carter. Sharon was the most apologetic of them all, having witnessed first-hand the pain his parents’ death had cost him. She had seen him spiralling into the hole of meaningless sex, alcohol, and partying, and she had tried her best to get him out of it. She, aunt Peggy, and Rhodey, had all tried unsuccessfully. With Steve keeping the knowledge of who actually killed Howard and Maria, and then claiming it was to protect Tony, it was just wrong. The public came to know about Steve's true motivations at the press conference, and they made their decision. Wasn't transparency exactly why he and the others had signed the Accords? The Rogue Avengers (as the media had taken to calling them) were housed in the Compound, which Tony had donated to the newly revived SHIELD. After what had happened there, he was glad to be rid of it. But when Thor, Bruce, Loki, and Sif showed up in a ship with a bunch of Asgardians, Tony couldn't let them on the street. He bought out an apartment building between Stark Tower and the Compound where they could all stay for which Thor had offered to repay him which he refused. But all the Asgardians had insisted that they would only live there if they were allowed to pay rent. Thor, the Asgardians, and Bruce, learnt about the Civil War then and the real reason behind it, and it took Hulk, Thor, Sif and the Hulk Buster armour to hold back Loki and this scary lady who was introduced to him as Brunhilde Valkyrie, though she looked like she was daring anyone to call her Brunhilde when Thor introduced her. Even though Thor, Bruce and Sif didn't seem too eager to stop them. They finally calmed down when Tony told them he was okay, and that the Rogues were going to be back soon, and that they had the freedom to mess with them once they were back on American soil as long as they could still come when called to fight against evil. He realised that it was a bad idea when the look of mischief in Loki's eyes was mirrored by Thor, Sif, Valkyrie and even Bruce, but he was almost unrepentant, the Rogue Avengers pretty much deserved it.  
Tony was watching the live news coverage of the Rogues returning to America in between looking over some files for SI that Pepper had brought him. He let a cursory glance at the TV, his eyes sweeping over Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton. Bucky Barnes caught his eye, standing behind everyone else, almost like he was trying to be invisible and unnoticeable in his plain hoodie and worn jeans. The hood drawn up to cover the long hair, some of it falling forwards to cover his face, his metal arm completely hidden from sight. Tony knew that Barnes was in cryostasis in Wakanda and that he had gotten a new arm from their resident genius, Princess Shuri. T'Challa had called him as soon as he'd found out from the press conferences, the whole Wakandan court expressed their concern and support. The court asked him if he was okay with the Rogues being in Wakandan, Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje said she would personally kick the Rogues out of Wakanda if he so wished. Returning his attention to the TV Tony thought that Bucky Barnes could have passed for a regular human on the street, wouldn't even have caught Tony's attention if it wasn't for the time he had spent poring over his file. Tony had spent most of his days in the hospital reading up about the Winter Soldier, he had learnt a lot about what HYDRA had done to him, and Tony felt guilty. He felt guilty for trying to kill a man who had had no choice, he had, unwittingly, been just the weapon HYDRA had used to get rid of Howard. While reading Barnes’ file Tony had developed a certain empathy for the man. He knew what it felt like to be kidnapped and tortured to do his kidnappers bidding, he could barely live with himself after three months, he couldn't imagine what Barnes must be going through now. That's why he sent an offer to fix his arm through Fury when they came back. But Pepper had made it clear that anyone other than Barnes wasn't allowed in Stark Tower anymore, and he was glad to have a friend like her.  
They weren't together anymore because Pepper couldn't deal with his problems, he didn't blame her for it, and he couldn't love her in the way that she deserved. He couldn't love her in the romantic sense and he had come to accept it, but he believed she deserves someone better, someone less broken than him, and she agreed. But that didn't stop her from being one of the best friends he had, for she was a force to be reckoned with and he was glad to have her. He couldn't bear to see the look of sadness on her face when he returned from Siberia, broken and hurt. The look of steely determination she got when she learnt the whole story made Tony almost scared for whoever was going to be subject to her.  
Tony didn't know why he bothered buying them a house since Thor, Bruce, Loki, Sif, and Valkyrie could be found in Stark Tower at any given time. Bruce and Thor, always together, quietly talking or making out or cuddling, doing cute coupley stuff together. They were so cute Tony wanted to throw up. He did find it fun to mention that they had a room in the Tower as well. Valkyrie and Sif spent their days flirting, fighting or chasing Loki for one of his pranks. And as for the trickster, when he wasn't messing with the Asgardians, Rhodey, Vision, or Bruce, he spent the time in Tony's lab with him.  
Loki seemed to be fascinated by all the Midgardian tech, and especially the things designed by Tony. Maybe it was because of the sleek and slightly extravagant things he designed, or maybe because Tony was the only one who didn't treat Loki different in some way, and wasn't busy making heart eyes at someone else. And in the time spent together they got to talking. It was simple things at first, like the pranks they got up to as kids and other such innocuous stuff. Slowly they began to delve deeper, and Tony talked to Loki about how it was living in his father's shadow and being neglected if not outright abused by Howard, and Loki, although never physically abused, related similar sentiments about always coming second best to Thor in the eyes of Odin, if even that. They talked about how it affected them, and how it still affects the way they see and conduct themselves, and how it affects the things they do still. Their talks would continue till late into the night, sometimes till the sun rose the next morning, what with Tony's insomnia and with Loki being a god, and not needing to sleep as often.  
On one such late night, sleep deprived and emotionally exhausted, Tony told him the whole story of what exactly had happened in Siberia, and everything about the Civil War, things which the other Asgardians and Bruce didn't know. He talked about how he wasn't right for Pepper and how she deserves someone who could love her romantically and who wouldn't give her such cause for tension every single time. Tony poured out to Loki the years of emotions he had felt. Maybe it happened because Loki ended up being such a good listener. And when Loki seemed to sense that Tony started getting uncomfortable with sharing so much, he started asking him questions about a term that he had mentioned.  
“What does aromantic mean?” Loki asked, changing the topic at the right time.  
“Ah, Reindeer Games, you've asked the right question if you want a lecture about human sexuality and romantic orientations,” Tony said, taking the out and donning his cheerful public persona again. “You know that romantic and sexual orientations are different. Aromantic people are people who don't feel any kind of romantic attraction towards other people. And before you say anything, that is normal and always has been” Tony said finishing his sentence slightly defensive.  
Loki just nodded. “Is there an equivalent of aromatic which has to do with sexual attraction?”  
When Tony replied he just nodded again and disappeared before Tony could go into detail. Tony didn't find it out of character for him, human etiquette was not a high priority with Loki, so Tony just sighed and went back to the work he was doing before they started talking. Before eventually falling asleep on the couch.  
Tony finally had a day off and he was lounging in the common room with Bruce, Thor, Valkyrie, Sif, and Rhodey and his new girlfriend Carol, when Loki strode into the room and sat down close to Tony. Almost in his lap, in fact, not that he minded, Loki was attractive but he definitely didn't wanna ruin their friendship. Loki seemed different but nobody else seemed to notice, they were too busy sucking face with each other to think about much else, and he had a twinkle in his eyes which didn't speak of mischief. “Let's go talk somewhere else,” he said, before transporting them both to the couch in Tony's room. This time Loki sitting at a distance facing him. His expression turned serious as he spoke, “I think I'm aromantic and asexual. I've been doing some reading of my own with the help of the tablet you gave me, on the Internet, and I know that aromantic and asexual people can have relationships, both with people who are aromantic and asexual and with people who are one of them, or are neither. And after a lot of deliberation I would like to try a relationship. And I would like to try it with you.”  
Loki vanished before Tony could respond. That may be a good thing because he needed time to process all of it.  
When Tony returned to the common room, the TV was switched off and everyone but Thor and Sif looked shocked or surprised or a mixture of both, which was exactly how he had felt at Loki's confession. That led him to assume he just missed Loki coming out to all of them. It made sense that Thor and Sif were not surprised, since Loki had grown up with them, they did seem glad and proud of Loki though, Thor more obviously than Sif. He didn't think Loki would have told them about having asked Tony out, but he couldn't be completely sure when it came to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AO3 messed up the formatting and if anyone knows how to fix it please DM me on [Tumblr](originalobjecttheorist.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter 2

Tony hadn't seen Loki for over a week. He was probably avoiding him or giving him space. The former seemed likely. Tony was sad about it, but he couldn't say he wasn't glad for the space to think. He knew he liked Loki, but he also knew he'd be too much for even a god to handle. Even if the god was Loki, Tony knew Loki deserved so much better than him. Especially since he knew the attack on New York wasn't his doing. He was a puppet being controlled by Thanos, whose motives nobody knew yet. The Chitauri were also acting under his orders and not Loki's. They’d had their bad moments, but after Siberia, and the non-apology by Cap, the battle of New York seemed less hurtful. Tony’s anger against Loki back then was because he killed Coulson. Now that he knows Coulson wasn't dead, Tony couldn't stay mad at Loki. They had hashed it all out when they first started their friendship, and all was forgiven after a few hours and a sparring session. It was very therapeutic. It also helped both of them release the restless energy they had from being cooped up.  
After a few hours of research on queer/quasi platonic relationships, abbreviated as QPR, Tony felt slightly more confident about trying to make a relationship with Loki work. They obviously had a lot to discuss about how they would work, and their boundaries with sex and romance were, but for the first time since Pepper broke up with him, Tony felt hopeful about someone showing interest in him. And maybe, for the first time ever, he was looking forward to starting a relationship with someone, even if he still felt Loki deserved to be with someone better than him. And because both of them had grown up in the public eye, him with Stark Industries and Loki being a prince, they knew how important their privacy was, and how they would protect it at all costs. Tony was really glad for that, he knew Pepper would be glad about that fact at least.  
Tony had decided to accept Loki’s offer, but Loki was still avoiding him. As a last ditch effort, Tony took the suit and flew into Loki's apartment, but he was nowhere to be found. Thor and the other Asgardians were of no help either, but he didn't think they'd help him even if they knew something. The one thing they seemed certain of was that Loki didn't leave Earth, which was a small relief.  
Tony was distracted by this, his work for SI and his personal R&D projects that he completely forgot about his superhero work. All of them had become complacent it seemed because one fine day the alarm blared that the city was under attack by Doom and his new and improved gadgets, that all the Avengers in Stark Tower jumped and ran to suit up. Valkyrie was the only one really confused but was swiftly getting ready to join the action when Sif explained it to her. The team consisted of Tony, Rhodey, Carol, Thor, Bruce, Sif, Valkyrie, and Vision, and so Tony was feeling confident that New York would be fine this time. Maybe Peter and Stephen might show up, and he hoped Loki would be careful and not turn up to fight with Doom even if it meant Tony wouldn't get to see him on this day either. He was confident that the Rogues would be stupid enough to show up because of some misplaced sense of justice and the massive savior complex of their leader, but he hoped for once they'd have some sense and not cause more destruction than necessary.  
He knew better than to expect what he'd hoped for. The Rogues did show up and so did Loki, not that they needed the help from the Rogues. Tony was glad to see him and was trying to keep an eye on him, hoping he didn't disappear immediately after the fight. He was also trying to make sure nobody got hurt in the battle. Luckily, the police had cleared out the civilians from the area, so he had one less thing to worry about.  
Making sure nobody, especially Loki and Peter, got hurt. He saw one of the Doombots approaching somebody from behind and Tony couldn't let them get hurt, especially since everyone else seemed too busy to actually help them and he seemed to be the only person who saw the attack by the Doombot in time so he jumped in and took the hit for his teammate, didn't matter whether they betrayed and hurt him before, the other man turned around just in time to catch him as he was falling. He realised it was Bucky Barnes, and Tony's only response to that was, “Oh.”  
Loki seemed to have noticed them right as Tony fell but he was surrounded by the Doombots. And as Tony went down Loki's magic went crazy, it ripped apart the wall of Doombots which were on him. Loki flew to where they were and took Tony from Bucky Barnes. The Winter Soldier was urging Bucky to not let him go, the beautiful man in the flashy metal suit saved his life, but Bucky saw Tony was in capable hands and he was sure Tony wouldn't want to be under the care of the man who killed his parents, he reasoned.  
The battle ended soon after and he left with Steve and the others even though Winter was screaming his head off to go help Loki carry Tony Stark to Stark Tower and be with him until he got better. But Bucky reasoned with Winter that Tony was in good hands, because he could seen the way Loki looked when Tony was hurt, it was obvious that Loki cared for the man.  
Tony came to in the med bay of Stark tower and the first thing he noticed, apart from the blinding lights, was that he had a visitor. Turning his head to look at the person sitting at his bedside took way more effort than it should have, and once they came into focus he realised it was Loki. Tony felt an overwhelming surge of love and relief that he was here and hadn't gone away. Something told Tony that Loki seemed to have noticed that Tony was awake, even though the god's eyes were closed. Loki sat up. Tony automatically cringed thinking about how much trouble he would be in but that just caused him to cry out in pain. Loki jumped to attention at the sound but settled down immediately at the worried look Tony shot him. Tony relaxed a bit when Loki took his hand into his but tensed a bit when he started speaking.   
“What were you thinking being so reckless?”  
“I was saving that man's life. I didn't realise it was Barnes.”  
“You would have saved him even if you knew it was Barnes.”  
“Yeah, I would have.”  
“I don't understand that about you, but I suppose it is a part of your charm. All the selflessness and heroic nature.”  
“I'm no hero,” Tony's expression turned sour at the reminder of Roger's’ words, “Steve made that clear.”  
“That foolish mortal does not know what he's talking about,” Loki sounded vehement while saying that, “You are worth a hundred times that foolish soldier.”  
“You would say that wouldn't you,” Tony said, smirking suddenly, “Flattery will get you everywhere, sweetheart.”  
Loki just huffed at the sudden change in tone, “Seems like you're all better now if you are flirting. I can leave now,” he said getting up.  
Tony immediately sat up to stop Loki from leaving, the sudden motion causing him to let out a pained groan and the sound made Loki's face crease in concern as he stood rooted to the spot. Pushing through the pain Tony says, “Don't go, please. I've been looking for a chance to say something to you but you weren't there. You weren't anywhere.”  
Loki's face was impassive but he nodded, sat down in the chair he had occupied, and said, “Fine, go on Anthony.”  
“First, promise me you won't leave.”  
“I give you my word.”  
Tony reaches out to take Loki's hand, to ground them both and to draw some strength, “I've been thinking and I have come to the conclusion that I'd love try this,” he says pointing to Loki and himself with his free hand, “Us. But we would need to talk things through if we want this to happen.”  
Loki's face lights up like a Christmas tree but it's only visible if one were acquainted with Loki's expressionless expressions. He nods slightly and Tony lets out a sigh of relief and continues, “And that means no more running off immediately after making love confessions.”  
"Fine. You wanted to discuss,” Loki said with disdain, “terms.”  
“Yes, Reindeer Games, we need to discuss 'terms’.” Tony barely restrained from doing actual air quotes because Pepper had forbidden him. “So, do you know what your limits with physical contact are? And with romantic stuff?” he asked getting to the point.  
“I have thought about them but I do not think I have gotten anywhere with it.”  
“On a good day, I can handle cuddling while watching a documentary. Or a rom-com.” Tony says holding Loki's hands. “But we can figure out our limits together.”  
Loki makes a long suffering sigh at that but he is smiling. “Your terms may be acceptable,” he says haughtily, still smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

It has been a few quiet weeks since Tony and Loki started this, relationship or whatever one was to call it. Thor and Sif had been really happy and supportive when they announced it to them. Bruce has been happy but more subdued, as he usually was. Valkyrie, with one hand in Sif's hair, just raised her bottle of rum in a silent cheer and went back to her mission of drinking Tony out of his fortune. Everything was going great and everyone was happy, Tony should have expected that something bad was bound to happen. But maybe he'd grown complacent or, gods forbid, hopeful in his old age.  
There was another attack by Doom on the city. Because of course it was Doom, it couldn't be someone easier to deal with, and since the Fantastic Four were out of town, or out of planet, again, the responsibility fell on the Avengers to handle Doom's latest temper tantrum. Thor, Valkyrie and Hulk definitely seemed to be happy to let off some steam destroying the never ending swarm of Doombots. And of course, to make matters worse, the Rogue Avengers show up. Why couldn't he have a few weeks of peace with his new partner.  
Turns out the Rogues didn't have enough to do in the fight, because they apparently had enough time to taunt Tony. The HYDRA Witch and Clint were the worst of it though. “Shacking up with Loki I see. Didn't think you could stoop any lower Stark.” he said when Tony flew close enough to where he was perched. That's rich, coming from you, Tony thought but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. Just as Clint said it, a bullet whizzed past him, almost close enough to graze him and hit the Doombot in front of him. Tony turned to see the trajectory and turned to find none other than Bucky Barnes who had fired the shot. To any onlooker it just seemed like Bucky was helping out his teammate but all three of them knew that it was a warning and Clint was smart enough to take it as one and keep his mouth shut. Tony just nodded in gratitude at the Soldier and went back to fighting.

The battle was tiresome but they ultimately managed to destroy the Doombots with minimal damage to property. No civilians were hurt and they got away with just a few scrapes and bruises. The worst injury seemed to be to Barnes’ metal arm which Tony was glad to take a look at. Especially after the show with Barton.


	4. Chapter 4

James hated having to make Tony Stark do this for him, but he was the only one with the kind of expertise to do it on this side of the planet. But that didn't stop him from feeling bad, he had killed his parents, he shouldn't be asking anything of him. He had no right to. Another part of him, which completely agreed with Winter, that was glad to be away from the Rogues, even if it was for a little while. Their constant whining about the situation they put themselves in and their loud hatred of Tony Stark was almost impossible to put up with even on a good day. And today was definitely not a good day, it took all the energy he had to just stay awake as Tony was fixing his arm up after the battle, he was exhausted, but he stayed up because it would be both embarrassing and a huge invasion of Tony's privacy if he fell asleep on him while getting his arm fixed. But as soon as it was, all he could do was stumble into the couch nearby, face first. If James was a little more aware he wouldn't have missed the absolutely cute chuckle Tony let out at his antics.  
James didn't know how long he had been asleep for but out definitely had been a while since he had slept so soundly. Maybe not since before the war, which was really odd because he was surrounded by people who would kill him without a second thought. Some of who would be glad to do it because of how much pain he had caused Tony.  
But when he came to he realised that the only people in the workshop were him, Tony and Tony's bots. He had assumed that Loki would be there or at least Spiderman, because they understandably didn't trust James. Not that Tony was incapable of defending himself, especially in his own space but he almost didn't stand a chance if James had meant to kill him, HYDRA had made sure that none of the Winter Soldier's victims stood a chance, even Tony who was considered a very high threat in HYDRA's list of enemies.  
Even the Rogues didn't completely trust him, he often woke to sounds outside his closed doors at the Compound. He didn't blame them though, and he had gotten used to constant monitoring when he was a machine for HYDRA but it had still made it difficult for him to sleep.  
Tony had apparently discovered that he had woken up by the way he turned around to face him, which James almost missed, he was getting sloppy, or comfortable depending on how you saw it. The second revelation was what surprised him more because he realised that he had become comfortable in Tony Stark's workshop where he had been only a few times before. His surprise must have shown on his face because Tony was speaking, “Easy there, Buttercup. You're okay. You're in Stark Tower.” he cautiously approached the couch, with his hands out like trying to calm a spooked animal.  
“I'm sorry. I know. I'm sorry.” James just realised he'd never apologized to Tony Stark for everything he put him through.  
“Hey, it's okay. You fell asleep, it's okay.” Tony's voice was soft and soothing and it just made James want to curl up in the other man's arms and stay there forever. He shook his head to get rid of such thoughts, Stark was a taken man and even if he wasn't he deserved so much better than James.  
“I'm sorry. I know. I'm sorry.”, he repeated looking down at his lap fiddling with his thumbs, a nervous habit he had picked up. James wasn't able to say much more, unable to even explain what he was apologizing for. Tony sat down beside him, and slowly put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, James, it's okay. You have nothing to apologize for. Not anything you haven't already been forgiven for, at least.” That almost made tears well up in James’ eyes, that's when Loki entered the lab startling him and dislocating Tony's hand from his shoulder. Loki just raised an eyebrow at his reaction and sat himself down in Tony's lap, the reaction while minute spoke volumes to anyone who cared to read it. James looked away as Loki sat down trying to not interrupt their moment and completely missing the matching looks of concern and adoration given to him by Tony and Loki.  
Looking at the time James got up to leave worried that the Rogues led by Steve would come looking for him, guns blazing, and he knew and cared enough to not subject Tony to that. And he was sure the other Avengers would be glad he inadvertently did that, giving them a chance to exact revenge without going against Tony's rules.  
“You're welcome to stay here,” Loki said, surprising James. “I do not mean at this moment but permanently. You can move here if you wish to do so.” His tone sounded so sincere that James was almost suspicious that he was making a joke at his expense. He turned around to see both his and Tony's expressions to clear his confusion but got even more confused at both of their sincere expressions.  
“I don't want to be a burden,” James said looking at Tony. He didn't want him to feel like he had to do anything for him.  
“Oh please, Buckybear. I'm offering, it's definitely not a burden. And you seem really relaxed here, I would have to be evil to take that away from you.” Tony said while Loki nodded slightly. And they both seemed so earnest in wanting to help that James couldn't help fall a little more for Tony and start to fall for Loki as well. Which didn't help his self loathing, How could he be so selfish and stupid to fall for two people who were both taken?  
“But Steve and the others-” James began when he was interrupted by Tony.  
“You don't owe them anything, James. You don't have to stay there if you don't want to no matter what they say.”  
“I was saying they might show up here if and when I move here and I don't wanna put you through that. Especially in your home.” James said shaking his head  
“That definitely will not be a problem.” Loki said with a dangerous glint in his eyes which pleased the Soldier and worried him.   
“Well then, let me just go get my things and bid my goodbyes to the Rogue Avengers.” James had one of the most genuine smiles on his face since he'd been himself in this century.

 

One thing he learnt about the couple while living in Stark Tower was that they were very tactile, at least with people they were close to. They were always touching each other in some way when they were not wrapped up in each other. Sometimes when they were all sitting on the same couch talking or just sitting doing their individual work, with Loki in Tony's lap, they would put their feet in James’ lap, tentatively at first and slowly it just became a thing. And if Tony was the one in the middle he would lie down with his head in James’ lap with his feet in Loki's and that was when James discovered that Tony loved having his hair pet, that Tony would sleep most comfortably when someone was petting his hair or running their hands through it.  
James had noticed that Loki was tactile with Tony and him which was odd but not more than anything else he learnt about Loki. Everything he learnt only made him fall for the god more, just as much as he was falling for Tony.  
\-----  
James had been living in Stark Tower for about a month and while he could get used to living with a bunch of gods and have a disembodied AI guiding him from the ceiling, he couldn't get used to the safety he felt there, amongst the people who had the most right to hate him. He couldn't get used to how friendly and welcoming everyone was. And most of all he couldn't get used to how much he was falling for Tony and Loki who seemed to be very oblivious to his pining and treat him as a good friend. They included him in things which usually would be shared as a couple like on movie nights. He shared one of the couches or loveseats with Tony and Loki while Bruce and Thor took one and Sif and Valkyrie took the other, both of the couples cuddling up and taking up the whole couch. At first James had sat in one of the armchairs alone but he'd probably been looking so lonely and pathetic, staring at them instead of watching the movie that Tony and Loki invited him to sit with them during movie nights. And they had slowly started including them in their cuddles.   
And on one of such days, “James,” Tony called out while sitting down on the couch between him and Loki, which wasn't unusual, but him sitting up straight instead of sprawling out between them was. It almost raised alarm bells in his mind similar to the ones that ring around the tower when the Avengers were needed.   
He barely registers the hand on his thigh, but is brought out of the state almost panic with Loki's words, “James, please look at us. What we want to say is not as bad as you are imagining.”  
He looked up to see Tony and Loki looking at James with such fondness and love that he surely had to be dreaming, “You're not dreaming, Snocone,” Tony says, sounding amused, but immediately turns serious and looks down on his hands, as if to gather his thoughts. Loki massages his shoulder, as if encouraging him but he looks almost scared which sets him on alert again. Whatever can scare Loki is definitely a danger to everyone else, but Loki seems to notice James tensing and relaxes his features into a lazy smile. James relaxes a bit at that but is still on alert, “If you want me to leave the tower, it's okay.” he says at the same time Tony says, “You don't have to say yes if you don't want to. You don't have to feel pressured.”  
“Say yes to what?” James says, he was starting to get really confused.  
“To dating us. We have noticed that you seem to be attracted to us and we would like to see where it goes.” Loki says.  
“Why do you think we were going to kick you out of the Tower?” Tony asks before James can even digest what Loki said.  
“I thought you guys figured out that I was crushing on the both of you and that made it weird for you,” he said, deciding that answering Tony's question would be easier to tackle.  
“So do you want to give us a try?” Tony says with a smile, relaxing into the couch.  
James’ brain has shut down. He doesn't know how to function anymore. “I don't want sex,” he hears himself saying but it barely registers, it feels like the words are coming from someone else.  
“So you're asexual?” Loki asks, smiling which makes him look like the beautiful god he is.  
He just nods, and he realises the question is probably rhetorical. “That's good, that definitely won't be a problem. I'm aro, aromantic. And Loki is,” Tony says turning to Loki for confirmation, “aroace, that is aromantic asexual.”  
James had heard of all these terms, he knew what all of them meant but he couldn't recall. He just looked at Tony and Loki blankly and realised they were waiting for a response from him, which finally kickstarted his brain, “Yes. Yes, I'd like to give us a try.”  
With the smiles Tony and Loki were giving him, how could he not gather both of them into a hug?

**Author's Note:**

> Find a rebloggable link [here](https://originalobjectwriter.tumblr.com/post/185290793875/life-moves-in-unexpected-ways-my-ironmanbigbang)


End file.
